Robin gave a shaky laugh at the Doctor's joking, happy that they now seemed to have a plan. Though it seemed that their situation was getting more and more dangerous, with hostile aliens getting closer all the time, she felt oddly safe with this strange man at her side. Even if that incessant beeping was still going on inside her head...

"Party trick?" she said teasingly, leaning briefly into his side. "I hope what you've got planned is much more exciting than some party trick." And then she listened as he prattled on about getting into the machine to undo their restraints, but her gaze flew immediately to the two men who entered the room. She quickly realized they were the ones fighting earlier, and smiled eagerly as they approached. Deep down, she hoped against hope that they weren't like Jamie had been... That they wouldn't soon melt into one of those hideous Daleks.

It seemed they were human, though, as they cut Robin and the Doctor free. A sigh of relief escaped the girl, and then a laugh at his compliment and the Doctor's reply. Shooting the Doctor a teasing look as he pulled her up, she brushed off her pants daintily.

"Oh come now, Doctor," she said, flipping her blonde curls behind her ear, "You're just jealous because the aren't throwing themselves all over you. It's very nice to meet you, Lieutenant Myers," she added, returning the man's salute with a slightly flirtatious grin. As they walked forward, she looked at the Doctor again, lowering her own voice to a whisper.

"Hey, if we were in the 51st century I would have old UNIT marines dying for my attention!" The Doctor pouted loudly before turning red as Myers and Higgins cast him a weird look. "I mean...carry on gentlemen. Lets go get them..." the Doctor muttered before glaring sideways at Robin. "I blame you for that, and I will have my revenge."

The elevator ride back up to the levels of the glorified retirement home went by without a hitch. During the journey Higgins and Myers explained to the Doctor and Robin how they had been practicing in the recreation area of the palace before hearing a loud explosion on one side of the campus, followed by the sound of strange creatures yelling; EXTERMINATE.

"Funny though..." The Doctor said whilst they traveled through the floors. "...you just assumed I was here with the delightful Robin in the lower chambers," he said curiously, his glance shifting from one soldier to the next. "You saw the Daleks and seemed very sure that I was there and that I needed your help."

"We're not spies of that guy with no eyes if that's what you're implying," Higgins said pointedly. "We were as surprised as you when we found out that Jamie McCrimmon was that freak."

"Besides, what would be the point in luring you into a second trap when he already had you at his mercy?" Myers asked, but wasn't looking at the Doctor while he spoke. Instead his eyes were still fixed on Robin.

"You have a point," the Doctor said with a nod. "Gentlemen, our lives are in your hands and your lives are in mine," the Doctor said cheerfully and clapped them both on the shoulder. "So Myers, do me a favor and stop checking out my companions legs."

"Sorry Doctor, been a long time since I saw a young woman in these parts," Myers chuckled before winking at Robin. "Your fellas mighty protective of you darling. Whens he planning on poppin the question?"

"I-I y-you!" The Doctor stammered, blushing heavily. "Can we just focus on not getting killed by Daleks?" The Doctor asked before the elevator doors opened with a ping. Only to reveal the blue body of a Dalek standing in front of them with its back turned to them.

The Dalek turned on the spot and looked from one face to the other with its eye stalk in complete silence, before pointing its cannon at them and yelling; "EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINA-"

The two soldiers moved at a speed that seemed almost impossible for their age. Their swords sliced into the Dalek's hull, causing it to let out a cry of pain as sparks sprang from the gaping wound in its armor.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" The Doctor yelled before all four of them sprung from the elevator and sprinted past the Dalek, leaving it cursing in rage as its wound hissed and sparked.

"ALERT! ALERT! THE DOCTOR IS HERE! EXTERMINATE THE DOCTOR!" It shrieked after them in its grainy voice.

Robin's mood lightened considerably in the elevator. It seemed like things were returning to normal; everyone was flirting and teasing and getting along quite well. It was almost easy to forget that an army of nearly indestructible mutants were waiting to exterminate all of them. A smile stretched across Robin's lips, one filled with a strange sort of excitement.

"You can't help him for admiring my legs, Doctor," the girl said. "These pants do make them look rather stunning. As if you didn't know that already... As for your question, Lieutenant, he's a little hesitant. So I'm available if you're asking." She tossed him a wink before smiling sunnily up at the Doctor. The smile didn't even leave her face when the doors opened and revealed the waiting Dalek.

Its screeching voice accosted her ears, but her smile only grew wider as the seasoned warriors jumped at it and sliced it open. It seemed amazing that apparently normal swords could pierce that armor... But she realized they probably weren't normal swords. Adrenaline pumped almost visibly through Robin's veins as they sprinted past the wounded Dalek, its irritated screaming echoing after them.

"Doctor!" she called, grabbing his hand. "Is it messed up that I'm having fun?"

"Nope, it just means you're getting with the program!" The Doctor called back to her with a laugh as they turned down the corridors and ran as fast as they could, dodging the fire of Daleks that they ran past and came out in front of. The Doctor looked back at the soldiers as they ran and eyed the swords before calling back to them; "So, what are those swords, why can they pierce the Dalek's hull? Are they made of tempered Dwarf Star Alloy or something?"

"We have no idea Doctor!" Higgins called back to him. "In fact, we're rather surprised that worked."

"That's a good answer Corporal!" The Doctor called back as they flew around a corner and ran down a flight of stairs, taking the steps three at a time.

"Doctor, you haven't actually mentioned this to us," Myers called to him as they ran. "So, just to ask, where the hell are you taking us?!"

"To find Davros. He took the signal beacon with him, I'm following the telepathic trail. Just ask Robin, she'll tell you that what I'm saying makes sense," the Doctor spoke whilst pointing behind him at Robin. "If I know Davros, then he's probably addressing the Daleks like a little pepper shaker army. He'll lead them down to the Gaia Tree once he's done and then he'll be very disappointed to find that we're not there."

"If he's going to return to the Gaia Tree's centre. Then why don't we just wait for him there and spring a trap?" Myers asked, narrowly avoiding a shot from a Dalek that slid out behind him before slicing off his eye stalk.

"Brilliant idea Myers!" The Doctor yelled to him happily before ducking as a beam of light shot at the space where his head would have been, "We'll just wait in a room with only one exit for the army of super advanced killing machines that will be blocking our only escape. Fantastic idea!"

A breathless laugh bubbled up in Robin's throat, and when it escaped she was completely shocked. Here they were, running for their lives... She was with an alien whose memories were all jumbled and who had a bunch of insane gadgets and ideas, and two ancient warriors with some sort of super-advanced swords... They were being followed by a bunch of horrifying, homicidal aliens... And she was laughing.

"Telepathic trail!" she said, trying to focus her mind and find it. Finally, she could hear it, saying the same things it was before. "Yeah! I can hear it! Davros put this thing in the tree, to draw the Daleks here! And he's still got it!" Looking to her right, the fleeing girl ducked as a Dalek took a shot at her. It traveled just over her head, but instead of screaming in fear, she laughed again.

"Then where has he gone Doctor?" Higgins asked while they ran. He wore a pair of glasses on his old face that he constantly kept on having to adjust as they came loose and bounced around on top of his flat nose.

"That's obvious, when the Dalek's invaded they were too arrogant to try and find any other way to get in apart from a full frontal assault" The Doctor explained, never pausing, even when his sandal came loose and attempted to trip him up. "But, now that Davros has seen there's a back door to this place, a back door that we might have left open, then he's more than likely changed the command to force the Dalek's to go..." the Doctor's voice trailed off as they entered the very first room in which they had walked into when they first gained access to the palace.

"To the back entrance," the Doctor said as they looked over the room, the open doors and the large open space of the cave. Every single inch covered with Daleks of every color. Some were red, some yellow, some orange, others were bronze and metallic and one was large and white and seemed to stand out amongst the other Daleks.

Davros stood amongst those that had gathered in the cave, addressing them as if they were a faithful crowd of supporters, "...planet shall become the second Skaro and together we shall spread destruction throughout the universe. We will exterminate everythi-" Davros paused and at that moment a hundred eyes turned in their direction.

"ALERT the Doctor is with us! EXTERMINATE the Doctor!" The large white Dalek called out, his voice lower and more vicious that any of the other Daleks.

"Oh, I wouldn't do that," the Doctor called, his arms behind his back as he weaved in and out of the Daleks casually, as if he were taking a stroll in the park. "I noticed a lot of dead bodies as we were coming up here. If you kill us then the Gaia Tree won't have enough juice to spit out it's first poisonous acorn."

"The Doctor must be EXTERMINATED! EXTERMINATE THE DOCTOR! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!" The cries for death rang through the horde of Daleks, their weapons aimed on them as they prepared to fire.

"Wait!" Davros yelled, holding the black device he had plucked from his machine high above his head. The Daleks instantly turned back in his direction, there weapons fell. "He is right. Without his life cycle we will need to gather more heroes before we can arm the tree," Davros agreed with a nod before grinning with his disgusting black teeth. "So tell me Doctor, what exactly do you plan on doing? Are you here to parley?"

"No, I'm here to tell you that I'm about to make do on a promise I made earlier today," the Doctor said whilst looking from one Dalek to another. "I said I was going to destroy you all, remember that? Remember when I warned you about how I was going to destroy you all?"

Davros tittered at the comment and shook his head with a smug grin. "We're not at the Crucible Doctor, there is no technology about that could possibly let you achieve that. Even if Valhalla does contain it then even someone as clever as you would need to spend hours understanding it."

"I don't need that. You've already given me what I need to destroy them all," the Doctor spoke and smiled warmly at Davros, his hands still tucked behind his back. "Did you hear that guys? Davros is the one who is about to help me destroy all of you!" he shouted to the crowd before his eyes met with Davros's sockets. "You could end this. You could walk away and let me deal with the Daleks. You could vanish and I wouldn't chase you. You could live out your life in peace"

"Daleks. Exterminate the Doctor's friends," Davros spoke in weary voice before the Dalek's raised their weapons and fired to the chorus of; "EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"

Myers leaped off his feet and knocked Robin to ground, narrowly avoiding a blast from several hundred beams. Higgins was not so lucky, with a scream, he fell to the floor, dead.

"And now you've just made this easy for me!" The Doctor snarled before pulling his hands out from behind his back. In one hand he held a green bullet in the other he held a sling shot. He armed the slingshot and pulled back the bullet before firing it at Davros. The projectile flew through the air and struck the black device he had been holding.

"What have you done?" Davros screamed as the device sparked and fizzed.

"Uploaded some data. That bullet contained the microchip I stole from your chair. It'll be imprinting some interesting data onto that Dalek beacon of yours," the Doctor said before Davros let out a cry of alarm and smashed the beacon in his metal hand.

"Oh, that won't do much good. That chip will download data in a few seconds, its going to have affected a good amount of the Daleks," the Doctor said with a grin, despite the battalion of guns that were pointed in his direction.

For a moment, the air was full of screeches of EXTERMINATE, but then, amongst the cries of rage, came several shouts. All of them were were full of pride, all were electronic and scratchy, and all of them were Scottish,

"FOR CLAN MCCRIMMON!" A horde of four hundred Dalek's yelled out before turning their guns on the opposing masses of rebel Daleks.

As they entered the room, Robin stopped as suddenly as she could, her excitement dying a little bit. Daleks filled the room, all different colors, and it seemed like there was no way they would be making it out of that room alive. As the big white alien spoke, his deeper voice full of spite and malice, a shiver ran down Robin's spine. But as she stood there, the image of the woman Romana surfaced again. And suddenly, she was calm, though she had no idea why.

Confusion muddled her thoughts, however, as the Doctor spoke of his plan to destroy the Daleks. All she had seen him take from Davros was the tiny green chip, and she had no idea how that was supposed to help them. Her trust of the Doctor was the only thing stopping her from being paralyzed with fear. But when the Daleks fired at them and Myers tackled her, she did let go of a scream.

"No," she whispered as she saw Higgins lying dead on the ground. "No, no, no!" The only thing keeping her from running to the heroic man's body was Myers lying on top of her. A sob choked her throat, but she would not cry... Not in front of these horrible creatures.

Then, something amazing happened. She couldn't see what the Doctor was doing, but it was apparently something important, because soon almost half of the Daleks had changed their battle cry.

The cave became a battlefield. Dalek fired at Dalek, their shouts of rage mingling with the war cries of the suddenly Scottish Daleks. The Doctor jumped to the ground next to Myers and Robin and grinned gleefully as he watched the fight, enjoying every moment of the Dalek's screams and Davros's cries of confusion and rage.

"What is HAPPENING?!" The large white Dalek roared from amongst the Dalek's whilst blasting open a Dalek that attempted to blow its head off. "What is HAPPENING?! EXPLAIN! EXPLAIN! EXPLAIN!"

"Doctor, what did you do?" Myers yelled out, ducking as shrapnel from an exploding Dalek flew past his head with the force of a shotgun shell.

"Simple, Davros created a little psychic beacon to control the Daleks with, so I decided to hijack the signal and send my own broadcast," the Doctor said, laughing like a mad man as he watched one of the Daleks smash into another like a bumper car before whacking it repeatedly with its plunger arm, all whilst yelling, Down ya fiendish brute! You can not kill a McCrimmon!. "So, seeing as how Davros had a complete version of my good friend Jamie McCrimmon on hard drive. I decided to download his personality into half of the Daleks."

"So you're saying..." Myers began before he too began to laugh as he watched a trio of Dalek's soar of the battle, blarring bagpipe music from their speakers as they rained down shots on the Dalek forces.

"That's right," the Doctor said before punching the air with his fist in triumph. "Every single one of those Daleks has become Jamie McCrimmon! Go get them you beauty!" The Doctor roared and watched with awe as five mroe Dalek's disintergrated from the blast of the mad Scottish Daleks.

Robin laughed breathlessly, hardly able to believe what was happening. It was simply amazing that the Doctor could think of a plan so elaborate with only a second to act. Davros had been distracted for a very short amount of time... The fact that this entire plan had formed in his mind in that timespan was astonishing. He really was a genius... Robin looked at him with reverence and a little bit of pride.

Shrapnel was flying through the air, and some of it brushed over Robin's arms, leaving shallow scratches but otherwise not hurting her too badly. Again she marveled at the material that the pants were made out of; though jagged pieces were scraping over them, the bright blue fabric sustained no damage. Thank goodness for alien skinny pants, she though with a giggle.

"Lieutenant!" she yelled to Myers, who was still lying on top of her, "Shouldn't we wait until after the wedding to get this intimate?"

"Hey, I'm getting blasted by aliens and have a beautiful women under me. I think is the perfect time to get intimate," Myers laughed before glancing towards the Doctor and yelling, "Doctor, how exactly are we going to get out of this alive? This place is a war zone!"

"Trust in the Scottish Myers!" the Doctor yelled, before his eyes narrowed on the crowd of Daleks. From amongst the chaos he could make out Davros, screeching for help from his hate filled creations whilst tapping at buttons on his wheel chair. He turned to Robin and looked at her for a long moment and winked before saying, "Be back in a minute.

The Doctor jumped to his feet and began running through the crowd of Dalek's, ducking and dodging the deadly blasts, before leaping at Davro's chair and grabbing his metal arm.

"The Dalek's have got bigger things to worry about than your safety Davros," the Doctor growled while wrestling with the villain. "You should have picked someone more harmless than Jamie to pose as. Those McCrimmon Daleks are twice as battle hardy as your evil little creations," the Doctor yelled over an explosion. "Now sit still! I''ve got a promise to keep!"

The Doctor pulled out a large gold wrench with orange stripes over its jaws, from his pocket before grabbing what remained of the black device Davros held in his mechanical hand. He locked the wrench around the device and began to turn the screws, locking down the jaws and sending an odd siren through the area.

While his back was turned, the white Dalek from earlier appeared behind him and aimed its cannon at the Doctors back before roaring; "EXTERMINATE!"

Robin laughed at the Lieutenant's reply, but her expression turned to one of worry as the Doctor got up and ran off. She had no idea where he was supposed to be going, but her companion and guardian was just running directly into the battle as though he had nothing to worry about. Blasts from the Daleks' cannons flew past him, the warriors firing indiscriminately.

But then... The white one. Robin saw it making its way through the melee toward the Doctor, and without thinking, she acted. Quickly, she rolled and shoved Myers so that he fell off of her. Keeping her head low, she ran to Higgins's dead body and apologetically heaved his sword from the ground. It was heavy and way too long for her, but she carried it anyway, hefting its weight with both hands.

As the huge white Dalek raised its cannon to point it at the Doctor, Robin screamed and raised the sword over her head. As hard as she could, she brought it down, cleaving the cannon from the Dalek's body before it could kill the Doctor.

The Dalek roared in pain and fury as its weapon was sliced off in one chop. It turned its head in Robins direction and glared at her with it's big red eye. "YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED" The Dalek yelled and held up its sucker arm towards her, preparing to shove it into her face and crush her head, but before it could touch her a trio of McCrimmon Daleks zoomed towards it. "EMERGENCY TEMPORAL SHIFT!" It yelled before vanishing in a stream of light.

The Doctor turned as he heard the sound of the Dalek disappearing. He missed the scene of Robin amputating the gun of the Dalek, so when he saw her brandishing the sword he just grinned and chuckled "It's okay Robin, we don't need to chop his head off. You get back under cover"

Robin let her arms drop, her mouth dropping open at the same time. The sword scraped on the ground loudly, the strange material of which it was made leaving a scar on the floor. Her right hand planted itself on her hip and she looked at the Doctor with irritation.

"You seriously missed that?" she said, yelling over the sound of the battle. "I just saved your freaking life!" With that, she huffed, lugged the sword up to rest on her shoulder, and stalked off. When she reached Myers, she dropped to the floor beside him, sitting with her legs crossed.

"I'm sure it was incredible and I'm really grateful!" The Doctor called over to her before twisting once more on the wrench. Davros screamed and cursed, his metal hand wrapped around the device in an attempt to free it from the Doctor's grasp, but no matter how much her tugged it wouldn't come free from the jaws of the wrench.

"Your plan shall not succeed, Doctor. Regardless of your faith in that dead buffoon a small army cannot hope to defeat the combined migh tof the Dalek forces!" Davros roared, yanking at his metal arm with his good hand in a futile attempt to free himself from the jaws.

"You know, for a 'genius' you're not very smart," the Doctor said, continuing his work despite the cries of outrage and the explosions that rocked the battlefield. "You see, even though you claim to be very smart you keep on doing one very stupid, stupid thing." The Doctor rested his hand on the handle of the wrench before turning to Davros and glaring into the large blue eye in his forehead. "You keep on thinking that you're going to win."

The Doctor yanked down hard on the handle and immediately the siren in the area changed to a higher pitch. The Daleks froze in place, their guns half raised and eyestalks still focused on their enemies. Then slowly, they began to turn in circles, getting faster and faster with every cycle, until eventually they began to smoke and spark.

"You both should have accepted my offer when you had the chance," the Doctor spoke as he looked round at the the twirling Daleks, who now began to let out cries of alarm as they ignited. "Like Mad scientist, like evil abomination I suppose," the Doctor said with a sigh, before clicking his fingers.

Explosion rocked the entire cave as every single Dalek erupted into balls of fire, their systems screeching as they were lost in the explosion, scattering armor and shrapnel in every direction.

Robin watched the Doctor work, every now and again dodging shrapnel that flew her way. There was no telling what the Time Lord was up to; apparently, he was hard at work tightening something up on Davros's Dalek wheelchair. A mad giggle bubbled up as she had the thought that it looked like the strangest tune-up she'd ever seen.

But then, the siren emanating from the strange black device raised to a horrible pitch. Robin grimaced and squeezed her eyes shut before clapping her hands to her ears. But as the loud explosion rumbled through the room, her eyes flew open and she was flung the floor, pieces of metal scratching over her skin. Balls of fire were all that was left of the horde of Daleks, and as the inferno wore down, smoldering pieces of metal and flesh sat in heaps on the floor.

Looking over at Myers, who was sprawled beside her, she smiled weakly.

Davros turned his head left and right in alarm as he watched his forces erupt into fountains of metal, sparks and fire. His leather skin was pulled wide around his sockets in shock while he let out a long screech of despair as all of his plans fell to pieces. "What have you done Doctor?!" He cursed whilst the Doctor hopped from his wheel chair.

The Doctor waggled the golden wrench between his fingers before pocketing the tool with a smirk. "Psychic Wrench, I use it to help people get a grip when they're a bit loose in the head," the Doctor said before pointing at the smashed black device that Davros still held in his metal claw. "Seeing as how you destroyed the beacon it let out a large amount of white noise on the Dalek's frequency. So I decided to up the Amp to the point where the Daleks minds would spiral out of control and then of course..." the Doctor made a thumbs down before smirking. "...detonate."

"But don't worry Davros, some of your troops still survived," the Doctor spoke before outstretching his arms to his sides and smiling. "These guys made it out A-okay," he said before ten Daleks slowly landed behind the Doctor and aimed their guns at Davros.

"For clan McCrimmon..." They growled in their scratchy Scottish voices. If Davros had eyes, they would be full of fear as he watched his creations stare down at him from the enemy's side of the battlefield.

"In case you can't remember the phrase, you're meant to use now Davros. I'll say it for you," the Doctor said with a pearly grin, before it vanished from his face and was replaced with a cold, hard look that bristled with anger. "Surrender."

Robin was again struck silent by the fury on the Doctor's face. She had never seen such an ancient hatred before, and it was certainly much more frightening than anything she'd seen from the Daleks the entire time. Thinking for a moment, she stood slowly and walked toward her friend. Every step was painful; her feet were bruised and scratched, as were her arms. But her steps were determined.

Finally, she reached the Doctor and stood with him in front of Davros, the McCrimmon Daleks ominously watching from behind. Softly, she put her hand in the Doctor's and squeezed, urging him to look at her.

Davros was speechless as he stared at his creations with disbelief. He had made them, he had mutated them into what he viewed to be the perfect life form and encased them in armor of pure dalekanium. He had taken away their positive emotions and left only the bad ones. No one knew more about their construction than him and yet here he was, at their mercy again and working for his enemy. And it was his fault, for her had been the one to supply the Doctor with the means.

"Y-You won't stop the Daleks, Doctor," Davros snarled. "The Supreme Dalek escaped and there is no doubt that he is building up a force from the Dalek Paradigm that will eventually conquer the universe in one almighty swoop."

"Then I'll destroy them," the Doctor replied without hesitation. "I'll destroy them again. And again. And again and again and again and again and again, until eventually you and the enemy get the point," the Doctor growled back with more venom than Davros could possibly muster. "I will never stop beating you!"

The McCrimmon Daleks began to circle Davros, their eyes watching his every move as he looked around nervously. The Doctor folded his arms across his chest. "I should let them exterminate you..." he whispered. "For the lives that were lost today. For the people you've hurt, killed and humiliated, I should order them to execute you."

If the Doctor was building to something, he didn't get the chance to show it. As Robin's hand made its way into his and squeezed gently, he felt all the violence in his voice evaporate to nothing. He turned his head in her direction and after a moments pause smiled at her and nodded.

"Right you are," the Doctor said with a nod before clicking his fingers. "Jamies, do me a favor and transport Davros to the nearest universal police space station. They'll know what to do with the old coot."

It made Robin sigh with relief when the Doctor looked at her and smiled. His fury was a wonder to behold; huge, proud, and vengeful he definitely was, and he was beautiful in all of his glory and rage, but... When he was merciful, it made him look all the more wonderful, and if Robin could help him realize that she would feel like she was doing her job.

As the Jamie Daleks circled around Davros, ready to transport him, Robin thought of something.

"Wait!" she called out, pulling her hand from the Doctor's and walking toward the group of Daleks as bravely as she could muster. Though she knew they were all right, they still frightened her, since only a little while ago they were all trying to exterminate Robin and her friends... But she managed. Finally, she drew close to Davros and looked him squarely in his blue eye.

"You are evil," she said softly to him, not caring if anyone else heard her. "You are hideous and horrible and awful and you killed someone who was so much better than you. But I'm about to tell you something you probably don't want to hear. I forgive you. And I feel sorry for you."

Davros stared back at Robin expressionless. Then slowly, a grin began to form on his face, and soon that grin turned to a laugh that echoed through the cave, high and shrill as it bounced off the walls. He didn't say anything, he just kept laughing like the crazy freak that he was, never ceasing until he disappeared in flash of light, along with the McCrimmon Daleks.

"You're a good person Robin," the Doctor spoke softly as he took his place next to her. "Not many would have done what you just did. Even if he didn't appreciate those words, don't feel disheartened. You're better than him. And maybe one day, he'll realise it." The Doctor turned to Myers and smiled at him before holding out his hand. "Myers, we have to leave. It's been a horrible experience, but I've liked meeting you for a short time."

"Do you want a lift back to UNIT? I'm sure they could still use an old soldier like yourself," the Doctor asked, but Myers just shook his head.

"No Doctor, I still have a responsibility here. I need to bury the dead along with all the other surviving heroes and make sure what little remains of their life force nurtures the Gaia Tree. They'll rest easier knowing that they helped save planets as well as stop a made man," Myers said sadly before managing to salute Robin. "Mam, it has been a great pleasure. I hope you visit some time."

Robin turned to the Doctor with an expression of mixed pride and wariness as he came to stand beside her.

"I'm not disheartened," she said, smiling. "I think the only reason he laughed is because he doesn't remember how to cry." As her friend turned toward Myers, Robin's smiled faltered a little but she managed to keep it on her face. Seeing the destruction around them was not easy, but for herself and for her friends, she stayed as strong as she could.

A genuine laugh came from her when the Lieutenant saluted her. Here he was, a brave soldier, having fought the Daleks even in his old age... And he wanted to stay behind and help when he could easily have gotten a lift home. Her head shook in amazement before she stepped toward him with her arms open wide.

"None of this saluting nonsense," she said, closing the distance between them and wrapping her arms tightly around him. "I want a proper hug. It was certainly a pleasure meeting you, and maybe one day when I'm an old warrior we'll see each other again."

"It would be an honor," Myers said, hugging Robin back before pointing at the Doctor. "You take care of her Doctor. We almost didn't make it out of this alive," Myers said, an edge to his voice despite its pleasant tone. "Don't ever cut it that fine again. This wasn't a clean victory. Many died in this war."

"I know," the Doctor said with a nod. There was a frown on his face, but it was his eyes that seemed to radiate the most sadness. The golden fire in them seemed to be extinguished and thus they lost their warmth. "From now on, I'm not going to walk into any more traps. Next time, we'll fight on my terms."

He waved goodbye to Myers before making his way through the cave, back to the TARDIS. "Thank you," he said to Robin as they walked.

Robin hated to see the Doctor so down. It was the laughter and light in his face that finished him, and without it he seemed incomplete. Gently, the blonde took his hand, leaning into him wearily. At his thanks, she shot him a confused look.

"You're welcome... But what did I do?" she asked, genuinely curious. Suddenly she was very tired, and as the adrenaline drained from her body, the cuts and bruises she'd sustained became quite painful. But Robin didn't care; all that mattered was that she was alive, and so was the Doctor. Worriedly, she looked up at him, wishing he'd be happy again.

Unable to control it, she yawned, and wondered when she'd ever get to sleep again. A wry smile crossed her face. If everywhere they landed something like this happened... She figured she may never get another night's rest. With another look at the Doctor, she then thought... Maybe that wouldn't be too bad. An almost wicked thought occurred to her then, but as she thought it, she realized her longing was too great not to say it.

"You kept me sane," the Doctor replied in a whisper as they walked through the cave. He seemed to be just as tired as her during their walk back. The days events had caught up to him and drained him of all energy, making every feel as if it weighed a ton.

"Tell me," he said with a yawn, fumbling inside his pockets for the key to his TARDIS as they stepped out into daylight. The magical box of the TARDIS stood, unharmed by the Daleks despite their use of the rear cave entrance. "I put in a security system, makes it go one second into the future whenever I've let it alone and Daleks are near. We can't have them getting their suckers on the TARDIS."

"So where do you want to go?" the Doctor asked whilst sliding his key into the door and unlocking the TARDIS. "The moon? Saturn? China? Australia? Space Australia? Australia 2.0?"

"I don't know that anyone could keep you sane," Robin said, trying to avoid the question another minute. She squeezed his hand again as they arrived at the TARDIS. "And... well, none of those places, actually." She bit her lip, unsure how the Doctor would react to her request. Again, her fingers wandered up to pull at her locket, the gold shining mutedly in the dim light.

"I'd like to go to... Niceville, Florida," she said in a bit of a rush. "I um... want you to meet my family. And I need to get some clothes and you know. Stuff."